About the project
There are different types of diapers, but it’s unclear which one is the most sustainable option. And what consumers, retailers, and other stakeholders can do to minimize the negative impact of diaper use. This report includes an assessment of 3 types of diaper systems and investigates different consumption and waste management scenarios.
- Location: Netherlands
- Year: 2022
- Description: Future Diaper Project (FDP)- now Plasklas – is on a mission to reduce the negative impact of the diaper industry. There are different types of diapers, but it’s unclear which one is the most sustainable option. And what consumers, retailers, and other stakeholders can do.
- Key insight(s): The sustainability benefits of the washable diaper become much greater if the washable diaper (1) is used for a second child and (2) if the electricity for washing is purchased sustainably: about 60% of the impact of washable diapers comes from washing in the use phase, of which 80% due to electricity use.
- The differences between the conventional 80% oil-based disposable plastic diapers and the 40% bio-based plastic disposable diapers are small (bio-based has a ~5% lower true price gap). The conversion of plant-based materials (such as maize and sugar beet) into (bio)plastics (also) has a high impact.
Good to know…
Results & review process
In January 2021, FDP and True Price did a workshop to gain initial qualitative insights into the place and extent of five external costs of washable and disposable diapers. There are 3 main types of scenarios included in this analysis.
i. A baseline scenario
ii. User scenarios
iii. Waste management scenarios
Impacts in scope: Underpayment, water pollution, land use, scarce water use, contribution to climate change, and fossil fuel depletion.
Value chain scope: raw materials production, use-phase and waste treatment.
Results: The true price gap for conventional disposable diapers is ~ €0,06 per change and ~ €0,045 per change for a washable diaper for one child from birth to toilet trained at 3,5 years old.
Timely toilet training (at 2– 2.5 years, 1 year earlier than the current average) reduces the impact of diaper use by more than 20% (see Scenario 2, p.35 of the report – link above).
In addition, work has been done on developing a strategy and communication to reduce external costs.
Limitations of the results
This assessment is based on secondary LCA data (Ecoinvent) Idemat databse, and the Global Impact Database by Impact Institute.
Due to data limitations, sector data are used for the impact of underpayment in the value chain. This data represents the sector averages for the different raw materials per country of origin (i.e. cotton from India).
The true price gap of diaper systems is complex and contains a substantial amount of variables. This required to make choices and assumptions, based on best available data and insights. These have been discussed with and signed-off by FDP.
Questions or want to learn more?
Reach out to us at info@trueprice.org